Aviram Valdman, The Tower’s photographer, journeyed to the south of Israel, where he received the Bedouin’s legendary hospitality—and took stunning pictures.

Civilizations, kingdoms and peoples have passed through the Fertile Crescent, the deserts of Arabia and the Sahara, but the Bedouin have remained. In Israel, their villages, cities and settlements dot the length of the country, numbering some 20,000 people with a growth rate of five percent—among the highest in the world. And though the Bedouin of Israel have made substantial progress, reducing their illiteracy rate from 95 to 25 percent and sending new generations to schools and colleges at an increasing rate, they are still a people apart.

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